Allstar

Ginny stared over the lake and watched the dying light slowly fade from the sky. It was an awfully pretty evening, if rather cool. So pretty, in fact, that she could almost ignore the fact that she was sharing it with Draco Malfoy. This wasn’t an altogether unpleasant state of affairs; however, Ginny still had some reservations on the subject of Draco. His behaviour of late had been so bizarre she couldn’t begin to interpret it. He seemed to switch between smug arrogance and flustered uncertainty with reckless abandon. Just that night he’d gone through a dizzying range of emotions, from his embarrassment in the library, to his unbelievable arrogance when he’d kissed her and then when he’d laughed with her -- Ginny thought that that was the most sincere of the facades she’d seen. Now they were sitting on a little rise on the shore of the lake watching the sunset in complete silence. It might have been romantic, except for the metre of space that Ginny was careful to keep between them.

The slim girl turned to regard her companion and was somewhat miffed to find him looking out at the lake intently. He didn’t seem to remember she was there at all. Ginny frowned. It was very silly of her to be thinking things like that. It wasn’t as if she wanted him staring at her or anything. An amused voice broke the stillness.

“Nice view?” Ginny, startled out of her reverie, realised that she’d been staring at Draco. It seemed he’d just then turned to look at her. Ginny blushed and didn’t answer.

Draco laughed softly. The sound was almost incongruous in its lack of mockery. After another moment of companionable silence, Draco caught Ginny’s eyes. He opened his mouth, then paused and shifted his gaze to stare fixedly at the air to her left. It took another two false starts before he spoke.

“Virginia?” Ginny raised an eyebrow. Not even her mother used her full name.

“Hmm?”

“Would you... May I kiss you?” At this, he once again met her eyes. His expression was questioning and somewhat hopeful in the lift of his eyebrows. Ginny couldn’t detect any trace of arrogance or cruelty. She glanced upwards, considering, then decided.

“Maybe later.”

“Oh.” Draco’s gaze fell from her own and his brow furrowed. He drew into himself briefly, before again breaking the silence. “Are you cold?” It was Ginny’s turn to laugh, gently.

“Not really. The wind’s a bit cool is all.”

“Ah.” A moment, then, “I know a nice disused classroom in the Charms wing. Not drafty at all.” Ginny looked up to find him smiling slightly, in his eyes as well as his mouth. She smiled back.

“I’m sure you do. Go there often?”

“Yeah...” Ginny snickered, and realisation slowly dawned on her companion. “Oh! No, I mean... Not like that. I don’t... I don’t go there! I only go there by myself!” Ginny laughed until she cried. Draco grinned sheepishly in reply.

* * *

“Why do you always do that?”

“Hmm?” Ginny glanced up at Draco. They had again fallen into silence after her latest laughing fit.

“Cry when you laugh. I’ve never seen anyone do that before.”

“Oh.” Ginny thought for a moment on Draco’s usual companions. “No, I suppose you haven’t.”

“So why do you?”

“I don’t know... It just happens. Why don’t you?”

“I don’t laugh that much...”

Ginny glanced sideways, grinning mischievously. “No?” she asked slyly, and before Draco could respond, she pounced. Within a moment, she had him pinned and was tickling him mercilessly. Draco writhed in her grasp, shaking with laughter. Gasping, he begged for release, but the redhead only smirked. Only when tears began to brighten his eyes did she let him go. Draco lay on his side, panting heavily, for some minutes before speaking.

“What in hell was that for?”

Ginny grinned. “Now you’ve laughed till you cried! I’m just glad you’re ticklish. I would’ve felt like an idiot otherwise.”

Draco laughed, picturing this. “Yeah, I might have thought you had other things in mind, jumping on me like that. How did you get so good at holding people down?”

“I have six brothers, remember?” Ginny rolled her eyes. “I have to hold my own somehow.”

“Hmm. Ginny,” Draco asked suddenly, “When you were dating Potter, did you make him ask every time he kissed you?”

“Of course not! We were dating.”

“Ah.”

Ginny pictured little wheels turning in Draco’s head and laughed out loud. Draco gave her an annoyed look.

“So if we were dating, I could just kiss you any time? And you wouldn’t bite me?”

“Not unless you wanted me to,” Ginny grinned. “But yes, that’s generally how dating works.”

“Hmm.” They lapsed into silence again, Draco staring into space and Ginny pondering Draco. A while later, Draco spoke again. “So... could we try that?”

“Try what?”

Draco sighed. “Dating. You know. What we were just talking about.”

“Oh, right.” Ginny thought it over and grinned. At that, Draco licked his lips nervously. “Sure, if you like,” she said brightly. “You’ll have to talk to Ron, of course.”

“What!? Why?”

“To ask permission, of course. You know he’ll flip otherwise. And he’s my brother, aren’t you supposed to do that?”

Draco spluttered. “Maybe thirty years ago!”

“Yeah? Well I kind of like the idea... Shows that you’re serious, you know?”

“Couldn’t I ask one of your other brothers?” Draco asked, looking like nothing so much as a plaintive puppy.

“Oh, I suppose you could owl them. I doubt you’d want to ask Fred or George, though, and Bill and Charlie are overseas, so it’ll have to be Percy. I can give you his address at the ministry or you could try my house, he still lives there.”

“No, no, his work is fine,” Draco said hastily. “I wouldn’t want your mum to get it by accident. Might get the wrong idea.”

Ginny laughed. “No indeed!” She glanced at the sky and suddenly sat up. “Look how late it got! I can’t believe I didn’t notice. Hermione’s going to come looking for me any minute.”

Draco stood and offered Ginny a hand, pulling her towards himself as she got up. “I suppose you’d better head back then,” he breathed into her ear. She smiled up at him.

“Don’t wait too long to owl Percy, hmm?”

“I’m right on it,” Draco promised. Ginny stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the nose, then ran across the fields towards Hogwarts.

* * *

Draco was left watching her disappear, a rather foolish grin on his face. After a moment, he shook himself and headed back to the dungeons. He needed to think about what he was going to say to Weasley, and to his housemates. He’d be walking a thin line for the next while. It looked to be fun, though.